Officer Testifies Fatzinger Told Him He Had 'Reasons'

June 19, 1986|by DEBBIE GARLICKI, The Morning Call

Allentown Police Sgt. Raymond Fatzinger, while in custody on a homicide charge, said he was not a criminal and had "reasons for what happened" the night his former girlfriend was shot, according to a detective who recorded the statements.

"I never thought I'd be on this side of the bars. How does a guy f---up his whole life?" Fatzinger told Detective Paul Snyder, one of two officers posted outside the holding cell at police headquarters where Fatzinger was kept after being apprehended in connection with the death of Pamela Smith of Allentown.

Before making that statement, Fatzinger told Snyder, "I am no criminal. I have my reasons for what happened," according to testimony.

Snyder testified that Fatzinger made the unsolicited statements when he was in the holding cell and when he was in Sacred Heart Hospital, where blood was drawn to determine the amount of alcohol in Fatzinger's blood.

Fatzinger, who initially paced back and forth in his cell and later slept for brief periods, repeatedly asked Snyder and Patrolman John Koons about Smith's condition, according to Snyder.

Snyder said Fatzinger asked, "John, is she all right? Paul, is she dead?"

Fatzinger then said, "She caused me to lose $80,000," said Snyder who testified that he wrote the statements in a notebook and wrote some of them on his hand because he didn't have his notebook at the hospital.

Snyder said Fatzinger told him at the hospital, "I f----- up two lives and embarrassed my children. I bought her a house for $80,000 and a new car. What can I say? I fell in love with her, then she laughed in my face - a peon."

Smith, 36, was found in front of her house at 3004 Gordon St. shortly before midnight on March 2, 1985. An autopsy showed she was shot four times and died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Twelve policemen have testified so far in Fatzinger's Lehigh County trial, all saying they knew Fatzinger and some admitting they were upset and uneasy about the jobs they were required to do the night their colleague was arrested and processed at police headquarters.

Fatzinger, 52, has been on the police force for almost 20 years.

"I felt ill at ease. I was upset," said Koons.

Sgt. Thomas Kolowitz, who compared Fatzinger's fingerprints with those taken from two glasses in the Smith home, said Fatzinger told him, "I never thought I'd be standing here and you'd be taking my prints."

"I couldn't believe what happened," Kolowitz said.

Sgt. John O'Donnell of the identification bureau said that when he saw Fatzinger at 4 a.m. March 3, Fatzinger told him, "Don't judge me too harshly."

Most of Fatzinger's fellow officers testified that he appeared to be drunk but all used different words and phrases to describe his condition. All agreed, as put by one patrolman, that Fatzinger "wasn't the normal Ray Fatzinger I knew."

Fatzinger's attorney, John Karoly, has contended that Fatzinger's intoxication rendered him incapable of knowing what happened the night of the crime and that the sergeant was legally insane.

Karoly has contended that expert reports say Fatzinger was suffering from such a defect of mind that he didn't know the nature and quality of his acts, or if he did, was incapable of telling right from wrong - elements of legal insanity.

When it came to questions of Fatzinger's physical, mental and emotional condition, Karoly and District Attorney William Platt went back and forth, apparently trying to elicit testimony about whether Fatzinger knew what was happening and could appreciate the seriousness of his situation.

When questioned by Karoly, Sgt. O'Donnell, who said he has known Fatzinger for 35 to 40 years, testified that Fatzinger was "dazed" and not appreciating what was going on around him.

Platt then asked O'Donnell whether Fatzinger's plea not to be judged too harshly was a sign he knew the seriousness of the situation.

O'Donnell answered, "It's an indication he knew what happened."

Karoly returned questions in which he asked O'Donnell whether he had ever seen Fatzinger in the condition he was that night.

O'Donnell said he hadn't. Platt's next questions were, "Did you ever see Raymond Fatzinger when he was charged with shooting someone?"

In response to a final question by Karoly, O'Donnell said some people charged with homicide appear dazed, some do not.

The police witnesses testified that Fatzinger was able to walk, cooperated when asked to perform tasks related to the booking procedure, and appeared to understand what was being said to him during limited conversations.

Fatzinger had asked for coffee and cigarettes and requested that someone call Karoly, according to testimony.

Koons described Fatzinger as calm and polite, "a gentleman," who said, "Thank you," when given coffee.

"I would say he was drunk, but I would also say he wasn't drunk to the point where he didn't realize what was going on," Snyder said.

Patrolman George LaFaver, who checked Fatzinger every half hour while the sergeant was in the holding cell, said Fatzinger seemed to be in "another world."